Takeaway Tip: ”You don’t want to be 70 or 80 years old and then say, ‘I could have, should have.’ Trust the things you love, get training or get motivated and something will happen that will lead you to the next thing.”

Whenever I speak about my book, I always get at least one question about how I got my book published. In all honesty, I find it somewhat surprising that so many people are interested in publishing a book during their semi-retirements.

After all, writing a book is a massive undertaking that takes time, persistence and marketing savvy (not to mention a really understanding spouse and a love of coffee).

In any case, if you’re an aspiring author, one of the decisions you’ll need to make, sooner rather than later, is whether to self-publish or pursue a traditional publishing contract.

“Helping people is harder than it looks. And yet, every now and then, if you’re willing to take a risk, you can have a truly transformative impact in ways that will continue to ripple out to other people.” - – Nick Kristof, Pulitzer prize winning journalist and co-author of the newly released book, A Path Appears, speaking during the closing keynote of Encore 2014: Building an Encore Nation.

I just returned from the Encore 2014 conference, and without a doubt, it was the single best conference I have ever attended – three days of inspiration and unparalleled networking opportunities. For those of you unfamiliar with Encore.org, it is an organization and movement dedicated to second acts for the greater good and the belief that post-midlife is a time to use one’s personal skills and experience to help others.

I’ll be writing more about the conference on Next Avenue later this month, but in the meantime, being at the conference reminded me to share some of the many helpful Encore resources that you can use to plan your own purpose-focused second act.

I’m often asked, “Nancy, what are some easy things I can do now to start to plan for my eventual retirement?”

I get that emphasis on “easy.” Finding the time to focus on the future is not so simple when you’re busy working hard at your full-time job. But even if you can only spare a few hours each month, there are some simple things you can do now to begin to plan for the future.

While traveling on an airplane recently, I sat next to an IT exec in his late 50′s and we got into a lively discussion about second-act careers (shocking, I know).

But when I asked him what he had in mind for his second act, he sighed and said, “You know, I think about a lot of things. But I gotta admit that the thought of doing something really different scares me. I can’t get this vision out of my head that I’ll end up as a greeter at Walmart and then one day I’ll bump into an old colleague who will ask:

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